Gourt Home::Gourt :: St. Mary the Virgin, Ewell
The church of St. Mary the Virgin, Ewell is the civic church of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in the county of Surrey in South East England.
History
Early history
There has been a church dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin in Ewell since the 13th Century, a board above the south door in the current building recording incumbents from 1239 to the present day. There were two reasons for the demolition of the old church (except for the 15th Century belltower, which still stands in the churchyard today): one was that the building was in such a parlous state of structural repair that it would come down whether demolished under control or allowed to collapse; another was that the incumbent at the time, Sir George Lewen Glyn (known to have been both Vicar and Lord of the Manor simultaneously), resented his parishioners' carts all passing his rectory/manor house on their way to Sunday services, so had a new church built at the junction (one of two) of Church Road and London Road (both of which are arc-shaped) further away from the rectory.Dedicated in 1848, the current building stands in a prominent position near the centre of the village of Ewell, on the old London Road. Designed by Henry Clutton, it was built in a simple, modest form of the Decorated Gothic style (apart from an ostentatious vaulted west porch, erected c. 1905) and faced with Swanage stone (not to be confused with Purbeck marble) with Bath stone mullions and tracery. The North Aisle was enlarged in the late 19th Century. The real glories, however, are to be found inside. There is a fine marble pulpit, as well as the medieval font and chancel screen (which was extended somewhat to fit the larger chancel arch of the new church) from the old building.
Modern history
A fire in 1973, started by the church's boiler exploding, destroyed the North Aisle and everything in it except a print of Christ, the Light of the World by famous painter and local resident William Holman Hunt, including an organ built in 1865 by "Father" Henry Willis. The church was lucky enough to buy a similar instrument (almost identical to that of Truro Cathedral) from the church of St. Augustine, Highbury, London, which was under threat of closure. Ironically, just weeks after the Highbury organ's move, its original church was given a reprieve. Unfortunately, some of the organ's finely stencilled front-pipes (those which were to form the front at Ewell) were painted gold, in accordance with the fashions of the time. However, a few stencilled pipes can be seen from a few angles behind these (see image 6).Recently, a set of Stations of the Cross and Resurrection by parishioner Iain McKillop have been dedicated for use at St Mary's, having been on tour of Britain's Cathedrals.
Gallery
External links
"St. Mary the Virgin, Ewell"